Getting back in after about a 4 year absence!

[RacingTiger03]

Life happens.. between moving and starting a family my tank suffered severely and ultimately crashed not long after attending my first meeting with you guys!

Fortunately, things are somewhat calming down, and I'm dragging out equipment and checking things out to see where I stand and what I'll have to buy. My oldest 30G is going to be set up first, perhaps eventually I'll have it AND my 55G up and running.. first things first I've got to get the tank set up and running. Hope all is well with everyone and hoping to see that many are still active

 

[3Twinklets]

Awesome! Welcome back!!

 

[Captain Nemo]

Welcome back! I am getting started back up too.

 

[RacingTiger03]

Thanks guys, so far It looks like all of my equipment checks out. Starting the process of soaking and scrubbing my old rock to prep it for us, then I'll grab up a few pieces of nice LR from bermuda triangle. Should be able to add a fish in the next week along with the CuC . It's been quite some time though, were there any more rugged corals that could be added sooner for some color? I don't want any fast growing softies though, had some trouble with those trying to take over my tank last time, LOL.
This - Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Glove Polyp Coral - Aquacultured glove polyp is what tried to take over. Were the hammer and toadstool types slow growing enough and hardy enough for the first few weeks of a seeding tank? (40lbs dry rock.. I guess it's try, though it still had live algae on it so who knows... 2lbs live)

thinking of doing a damsel for now to see how our cats react, but I had a damsel before and that little thing I couldn't catch again until the water was all gone!! Even then it floundered around in a puddle on the sand until I just scooped up the sand with it, LOL.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Welcome back! Some slower growing Zoas could add a pop. Most are pretty hardy and are easily controlled.

 

[RacingTiger03]

I never got into the ZOA phase for some reason. I had some beautiful sunflower looking ones, but the machine greens and blue deaths just didn't pop in the tank the way I expected (So sad those ended up obliterated though, tried to give everything away before the tank crashed though.. :/ ).

It seems most of the softies I like are crazy fast growers. Any SPS or LPS that's hardy enough? I prefer to wait till a few months in for those, but it's all I'm turning up that grows slowly and is fairly hardy (somewhat) :/ There are duncans, but I worry it's far too early for those without more bio activity in the rock-work. I used live sand, but at only 15lbs so far, I doubt that's enough either, IF it survived the early upswing to 1.028 salinity.. ugh. (don't ask, LOL).

For that matter, does anyone have any long term recommendation on blue/green medium hardy corals? I have 2x DE 150MH 14K over the tank, so I don't think there is much I can't support in that regard. Before when I ran the tank The only thing I had trouble with was digitata with green polyps. It went from thriving to soso fast, but recovered well. I tried a blue acan in my 55G and I think it was dead as soon as it went in the tank, never got any extension out of it, and it bleached out fast no matter how low I moved it.... it was even under the exact same lights in the LFS frag tank. Not long after that I started dosing and monitoring chem closely, and never had any more problems (honestly only ever had to does calcium and mag. to support the reef! everything else was VERY stable). So I want to say I can handle at least med. difficulty items (kept a RBTA alive for a year in this same tank with 20lbs dry and 10lbs live rock after a month, that made me happy )

 

[RacingTiger03]

It's looking like my "dry rock" was in more of a "live" condition than I thought! Some of it is already re-gaining a purple tint and the tank is showing signs of micro-fuana with little-no die off . Grabbed one piece of premium live rock today and some CuC to start fake feeding to see just how much is there... So far tank parameters are nice and stable!

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

I have ORA Birds Nest which has been very hearty for me. I get 1/2" polyp extension on it. Purple polyps with a bright green branch.

I also have a ton of radioactive dragon eyes (zoas) that are exactly what you want color wise.

I'm also a big fan of the Dragon Soul Favia, but you'll need it low.

You can see all of these in my build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129143

 

[RacingTiger03]

Hadn't thought about a Bird's Nest, that's one I never had much luck with my first go around. Then again, it was my first SPS too, lol.

I had some of those in my last tank! As I recall they were a pretty slow grower (I think mine were machine green's specifically, but It's so hard for me to tell, lol).. I have a few spots those might do OK at. Does anyone local sell those anymore, or would you be interested in fragging some out in a month or so?


Thanks for the link, you're tank is beautiful! I actually plan to swap to a 27-~35 cube at some point. I setup my long 30 for now as I had it handy and wasn't too sure how everything is going to work out. Cheap for now, if I can handle it OK, I'll be doing some major upgrades next year .



Working on planning out livestock as well, so far -
2- snowflake or picasso clowns
1- RBTA
1- Watchman Goby
1- peppermint or boxer shrimp
CuC: (this is an area I slacked before and wound up busting my tailfeathers to keep the tank clean, so please let me know if this list is wrong as well)
15-20 dwarf hermits
5-10 reef hermits
5 various snails or a couple abalone
I think I'll leave the major stirring to the watchman goby.. maybe a sand star when the tank can think about supporting it, probably after I swap to another tank way down the road though. Never had any luck with stars even in the 55G, and tried a sand star in my 30 before.. it made it about 2 months then started running out of food, took it back to the LFS just in time.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

I'm happy to frag anything I've got. Another good SPS for you might be a Montipora setosa. It's orange, but hearty and it plates, encrusts, and branches.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Nice tank Aaron!! I like it!

 

[RacingTiger03]

Thanks Aaron, I'll check with you in a month or so after the diatom bloom starts/ends and after the nitrate spike... so far everything is remaining stable... I'm somewhat shocked. Maybe I need to get those clowns in LOL. Picasso are awfully expensive to risk though if things go awry :/
Fully up and running for 5 days now with no change in nitrates or skimmate. I hope the fake feeding is enough to get the cycle started. Only dropping in 3-5 pieces of food every couple days, so we'll see.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Nice tank Aaron!! I like it!

Thanks! I hope to have the group over to check it out at some point.

Thanks Aaron, I'll check with you in a month or so after the diatom bloom starts/ends and after the nitrate spike... so far everything is remaining stable... I'm somewhat shocked. Maybe I need to get those clowns in LOL. Picasso are awfully expensive to risk though if things go awry :/
Fully up and running for 5 days now with no change in nitrates or skimmate. I hope the fake feeding is enough to get the cycle started. Only dropping in 3-5 pieces of food every couple days, so we'll see.

I never had the bloom, FWIW.

 

[Captain Nemo]

I am hoping we have a meeting soon!

 

[RacingTiger03]

Eventually it will come Aaron. Unless you used all live rock and sand, lol. I Never had one in my 30. When I supplemented with dry sand for my 55 swap, I had a huge cyano outbreak. in the 30 it went straight to the diatom bloom and hair algae without ever really going through cyano (at least that I saw or detected). Hair algae was taking over my 55 after the cyano and I was losing time and interest to deal with it. Hoping to head off those stages BEFORE getting livestock in the tank, so it may be several months for me this time.

Nemo... IIRC I believe the only meeting I ever made it to was at your house. Upstairs tank, basement sump, multiple tanks down there. SO MUCH, If I am remembering correctly, what in the world got you out of the hobby?! if not, the tank you have for sale is very similiar to the one I'm remembering haha

 

[Captain Nemo]

Not mine, maybe someone else's.... Lol! I wish I had mine that way.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

I may be able to host in November.

 

[RacingTiger03]

getting somewhere since that bit of live rock. I'll have to order the test kits for nitrite and ammonia.. probably wouldn't hurt to replace my others since they're 5 years old . Nitrate's are now reading a pretty solid 20-40PPM So I definitely have some bacteria processing amonnia and nitrites. No way to tell just how much yet though

Sounds good aaron, depending on where my tank is I may be able to nab a few frags at that time, LOL.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Is your tank drilled? If so did you use any unions?

 

[RacingTiger03]

nope, just a display, with HOB stuff. I use an fairly decent sized "filter" as a small fuge though, always worked pretty well before without taking up too much space or offering plumbing for leaks